Scott McCloud's Blog, page 38
January 14, 2010
New Yorkers: Where do You Live? And Why?
As I've been working on my Manhattan and Brooklyn -based story from far away, I've been building a mental map of life in the city today, but it still has plenty of holes in it and it's been a long, long time since I've lived there myself.
For anyone out there living in working in Manhattan and Brooklyn especially, I'd be curious to hear about the neighborhoods you live in and why you chose to live there.
[Note: No disrespect intended to Queens and the other boroughs (see first comment), the...
January 13, 2010
London in May
Just a quick note to say I'll be attending UX London May 19-21st since I know such corporate shindigs need a little extra planning (and extra coaxing of the boss in most cases).
Had a great time visiting Skype's London office in November, but while there, I had a number of queries about when I'd be lecturing in the area, since that event was a company-only thingey. So, now you know.
UX London has a lot of great speakers on the bill this year, not just me. Hope to see you there, both from the...
January 12, 2010
In Praise of Mr. Steinberg
Comics critic Domingos Isabelinho recently took the comics blogosphere gently to task for not noticing a central influence on Mazzucchelli's landmark Asterios Polyp: the art of Saul Steinberg.
It's true. I failed to mention Steinberg in my own review of AP, but now that Isabelinho has pointed it out, it's hard not to see.
I always loved Saul Steinberg's work and was influenced by him myself at an early age, though it might be harder to spot in my work. Of all the cartoonists whose work I've...
January 11, 2010
David Lloyd Sums it Up
Yeah, I'm going to follow Kurt's lead here:
David Lloyd sums up the last ten years beautifully with the above image at the Beat's year end survey.
I never cared much if my comics were made into movies in the past. Someday it might happen and I'll buy something big, and go straight back to the drawing board, but I never viewed movies as a "step up" like some.
Still, it's been encouraging to see the increasing deference our medium has earned as nerds of all types have clawed higher and higher in p...
January 8, 2010
Dan Goldman's Red Light Properties
Dan Goldman has a new strip up at Tor.com which loads one panel at a time. Works okay. I think I've seen the trick before, though I can't remember where.
What's interesting for me (apart from the art and story, naturally) is how seemless it felt on a fast connection where the panels dropped in right away, and how jarring it was on a slower connection when the whole page vanished between loads. Speed definitely improved the reading experience.
Since the early '90s, I've struggled to look past...
January 7, 2010
Hey, it's Brad!
We finally saw the "Mattress" episode of Glee on TiVo last night and Ivy and I were happy to see the silent pianist "Brad" get more face time.
Brad Ellis is actually part of the musical production team for the show, but I remember him from my own High School back in Lexington, MA, and before that, in Sunday School, where he had a habit of bopping me on the head with Hymnals while Bill McKibben and I argued politics.
Lexington… I'm telling you…
Anyway, someone should make a Glee T-Shirt with the ...
January 6, 2010
466 Pages at a Glance
Just for fun, here's a distant screenshot of all 466 pages of my rough draft layouts for my upcoming graphic novel (working title The Sculptor). This is as close as I can bring you right now, but as work goes on in the coming months, I promise to show some actual art.
It's a testament to the speed of today's processors—well, 2007's processors—that what you're looking at actually exists in a single file and if zoomed in, the lettering is readable. To get a sense of the scale...
January 5, 2010
Travel Update: Houston, Philadelphia, and South Bend
I've updated the travel sidebar with upcoming trips to University of Houston, Philadelphia's Germantown Friends School, and Indiana University South Bend (not to be confused with the Bloomington campus where I visited last Fall).
Philly is in-school and not open to the public, but both Houston and South Bend are public lectures. South Bend is even selling tickets already.
I'll also be at UX London this May and Comic-Con of course. I'll post details on other upcoming talks as they come together.
December 31, 2009
Year End's Odds and Ends
Belated Happy Birthday to Ivy! We went to Disneyland for her birthday on Tuesday after a very full day of work Monday, and yesterday was a lot printing and mailing, so I didn't get much blogging, tweeting, or, um… facing… in this week.
Round One of the "rough draft" for the graphic novel is done! I'll be working on revisions/rewrites for the next couple of months and then, starting in March, I'll be doing finished art for two years. The book is currently at a whopping 461 pages, but I'm...
December 28, 2009
PlotBoiler
From the Inbox:
Scott,
Last year, my friend Brad and I created a website with a randomized premise-generator called PlotBoiler. I recently shared it with the (mostly-dormant) Oubapo America group, and Matt Madden pointed out it might come in handy in the creation of 24 hour comics. Well, anytime someone says "24 hour comics," I naturally think of you, and it occurred to me you might be interested in taking a look at it.
Michael Avolio
This reminds me (both in concept and execution) of a...
